Lausanne,
August 2017.-
Held in Bergen, Norway from 9th to 15th June by the International Tunnelling
and Underground Space Association (ITA) and the Norwegian Tunnelling Society
(NFF), the World Tunnel Congress and 43rd ITA General Assembly were a momentous
occasion and an undoubted success for the global tunnelling industry. During
the six days, over 1,500 delegates - experts, academics, civil and tunnel
engineers - shared their experiences, methodologies and state-of-the-art
technologies on different aspects of tunnelling and underground construction.
Key issues faced by the industry were discussed in order to achieve a unified
industry response to the surface challenges that affect urban populations.

A serene classical
music introduction by the Holbergsuiten Grieg ensemble, and an opening speech
given by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway, were followed
by the warm welcome given by ITA President Tarcisio Celestino. This paved the
way for the start of the congress.

From this point
flowed presentations, working groups, seminars and site visits. With 340
technical papers and 120 lectures, the World Tunnel Congress has once again
consolidated its position as the world's premier tunnelling event.

 The International Tunnelling and
Underground Space Association makes major announcements during the World Tunnel
Congress 2017 :

• The ITA releases the new global
market study of Tunnelling industry

During WTC 2017, the ITA released
its latest market survey highlighting the economic trends in global tunnelling.
If 2016 was an excellent year, then the future is definitely bright.

With a total €86bn
global output for tunnel and underground space construction in 2016, which
represents a 23% increase over the figure for 2013, the industry's prospects
for the coming years look to be very positive.

A few noteworthy factors have
emerged, notably the rise of the Middle East as a strong market with its
€10,2bn output in 2016 comparable to that of Europe (€9,7bn). Also on the rise
is the Indian market that has doubled in three years. The European market
however remains stable. China by itself represents about 50% of the world
market.

The key future trend in tunnelling
is undoubtedly the correlation between tunnels and sustainable development.
Throughout the world, major underground projects are characterised by their
sustainable credentials: for example, many cities are now building tunnels for
the temporary storage of storm water (typically 5m-10m diameter and several
kilometres long). Metro tunnels are increasingly used to alleviate traffic and
reduce air pollution in most cities in China, with similar huge developments on
the horizon in India, in addition to recent projects in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The ITA analysis
predicts a global output in tunnel construction of around €680bn, representing
a pipeline of work of more than eight years. The total combined projects for
India, South-East Asia and China match the total for Europe, and together they
represent 75% of the global tunnelling output.

• The Tunnelling Association Nigeria
joins the ITA:

Nigeria was
officially welcomed as the 74th member nation and represented by Mr. Abidemi
Agwor, President of Tunnelling Association Nigeria.

Nigeria is the most
populous black nation in the world and currently 7th most populous nation in
the world, however Nigeria’s population is expected to grow rapidly to become
the 3rd most populous nation in the world behind China and then India which is
expected to leap frog China to the first in the next 20 years. In 2015,
57,757,000 people in Nigeria lacked access to "improved" water. A
2006 study estimated that only 1% of Lagos households were connected to sewers.

The new membership of
Nigeria into the ITA shows the strong determination of the Africa’s most
powerful economy, which represents $520.1B
with a capacity to grow at rates greater than 5 percent yearly, as
demonstrated in the 6.2% growth rate
before slowing down in 2015, to attain the goals fixed by the UN. For
example, the African Urban Agenda (UN-Habitat programme) sets sustainable
development targets for a 2063 horizon; and the sixth main target of the UN for
sustainable development that states “By 2030, [to] achieve universal and
equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”.

A lot of things have
already been done in order to improve the situation: Lagos has four wastewater
treatment plants which have been rehabilitated around 2010. From 2011, the
state planned to build ten new "mega wastewater treatment plants"
over a five-years period with the help of private investors. The National
Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan launched in December 2013 proposed a
yearly spend of $30 billions over the next 5 years.

“Membership of the
ITA will certainly boost the efforts that have previously been put into
initiating the extensive promotion of using our underground space in Nigeria.
We have set ourselves a 10-year strategic plan which we expect not just to
achieve but surpass and being a member nation of the ITA is key to us meeting
these goals. As an association with
global relevance, part of our objectives is to promote the sustainable
development Goals as set by the United Nations especially the goals that
directly affect water and sewage, infrastructure and habitable environment, we
are aware that these are also core global objectives of the ITA.” Mr. Abidemi
Agwor, President of Tunnelling Association Nigeria

• From Norway to…Malaysia!

On Wednesday 14th
June, during the ITA General Assembly, the 74 member nations of the ITA elected
the host nation for WTC 2020. After rigorous scrutiny of the three applicants,
the winner was Malaysia with 30 votes, against 22 for Australia.

Co-organised with The
Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM), the 2020 World Tunnel Congress will
have as its theme “Innovation and Sustainable Underground Serving Global
Connectivity”.

Tunnelling Market in
Malaysia:

Malaysia is
experiencing steady growth in urban areas and therefore requires improved
infrastructure in transportation and energy. Recently, the country launched
successful urban underground projects such as: the SMART project to provide a
storm water storage reservoir and a 9,7km, 11,8m diameter bypass tunnel;
Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Tunnel, which can deliver 1,89 billion
litres per day, and the Mass Rapid Transit, a rail-based public transport
network.

Now a much anticipated event at WTC,
this year's Muir Wood lecture was given by Professor Hakan Stille of The Royal
Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The theme was 'Geological Uncertainties in
Tunnelling - Risk Assessment and Quality Assurance' and Prof Stile noted that
compared to other civil engineering projects, the greater uncertainties in rock
tunnelling may require adapting various standards to suit underground projects.
The tunnelling industry needs an appropriate project model based on tollgates
and milestones that is applicable to rock engineering based on the epistemic
nature of geological uncertainties and which can be minimised by updated
observation and investigation.

Prof Stille said that interpreting
warning signs can prevent events such as tunnel collapse and high levels of
water ingress, and if the project manager has overall responsibility the work
can respond to the encountered complexity.

He reminded the audience that rock
is unlike concrete and steel, so normal calculations alone are insufficient for
design verification. In most cases therefore, the observational approach in
tunnelling is mandatory and can be seen as part of risk assessment and quality
control.

A common approach is
to adopt prescriptive measures such as rock classification systems although
their limitations must be understood in order to achieve adequate risk
assessments. ‘Doing things right’ and ‘doing the right things’ form part of a
dual quality system as defined in Euro Code 7 (EC7) that must be adapted to
rock engineering problems.

The “Open Session”:

Tuesday's Open Session had as its
theme 'Rethinking major infrastructure projects: a new look at underground
solutions and public acceptance.' A total of seven eminent speakers enthralled
the audience with a variety of tunnel projects and themes that explored not
just the technical and financial aspects, but also questions around the
importance of gaining public acceptance. But how do we achieve that?

Communicating to the public the
benefits of tunnelling projects, including works mitigation and schedules, and
environmental considerations, was considered critical in getting public support
and understanding for these schemes. In many of the projects discussed, such as
enlarging the underground station adjacent to Norway's National Theatre in
Oslo, and New York's Second Avenue Subway it became apparent that neighbours
and residents desire minimal disturbance (noise, vibrations, dust etc) and
limited project visibility, as well as early promotion of the contractor's
environmental programme and mitigation measures.

Where possible, from the earliest
possible stages, we should clearly identify and communicate the benefits that
these projects will bring to the localities concerned. This is particularly
true if there are to be spin-offs in terms of economic growth, wealth creation
and jobs. Local community support is therefore essential and it is important
to:

 Liaise with neighbours, stakeholders,
politicians and media to highlight the construction works schedule and identify
challenges and mitigation measures; communicate with them at all stages of the
project to keep them involved;

 Each project is different and therefore
technical solutions must be adapted to suit the local environment and

 Respecting the general public is key to
gaining acceptance for the project, especially when the work site is in a
sensitive area and the project has high media scrutiny.

The open sessions generated
interesting questions including how to define an environmental programme during
the construction phase; what kind of mitigations were put in place to minimise
disturbance and environmental impact (can these be reused as tools on other
projects?). And did project design teams include specific sub-teams to take
care of liaison and community relations?

Combined technical
sessions

It wouldn't be a WTC without the
participation of the ITA's expert committees which were fully active in Bergen.

The ITA Committee on Technologies
(ITAtech) looked at 'Innovation in Drill and Blast, and Rock Support'. Papers
included the use of conveyor belts for mucking on the Solbakk project (the
world's longest and deepest subsea road tunnel); investigating blast damage;
insitu pressure

measurements during
pre-excavation grouting in rock tunnels, and the design philosophy for
permanent sprayed concrete linings.

ITACUS (Committee on Underground
Space) examined the 'Use of the Underground', and in particular new ideas and
uses for underground space. This went beyond simply utility tunnels and
examined new commercial uses, underground concourses and how cities can utilise
underground space for sustainable development. How can we as an industry
influence the development of new undergound uses?

The ITA-COSUF (Committee on
Operational Safety and Underground Facilities) had the theme of 'New Security
Challenges for Design and Operation'. Terrorism has unfortunately become a fact
of life. How should it be managed in tunnel systems? How will decision making be
influenced in times of disaster and terror? And how can we protect tunnel
control centres from threats to their cyber security?

Working Group 22:
dedicated to digital applications and BIM

The creation of the Working Group 22
was agreed by the ITA General Assembly, around “Information Modelling in
Tunnelling”. This group gathers Australia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Italy,
Norway, Slovenia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Its
animator is Dr. Jurij Karlovsek and Vice -animateur is Mr. Paolo Cucino.

This working group
aims to study “Building Information Modeling” software’s application for the
underground construction. Identifying the differences between civil engineering
and underground constructions and ensure that BIM respects these differences is
one of the main goal of this group. It also focuses on the development of
common procedures based on experiences and lessons learned including other
engineering fields.

About the
International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association:

The International
Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) is a non-profit and
non-governmental international organization, which promotes the use of
underground space for a solution to sustainable development. Founded in 1974
and operating out of Lausanne, Switzerland, ITA currently associates 74 Member
Nations, 300 affiliated members, 17 Prime Sponsors and 60 supporters, as well
as individual members.